Phillipians 1:1-2

 

Phillipians 1:1-2

Greeting

1 ¶ Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

2 ¶ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

——

I always loved when Pastor Bill would start a new book in the Bible and he would spend time giving context or what was happening in the place, where they were at with Jesus, how they got their start and much more. Pastor Chuck Smith does the same thing in the commentaries here in the Blue Letter Bible and it is really helpful for me to really understand the “why’s” that crop up. 

Paul was writing, as he did in Ephesians from Rome. He was still arrested, but had been allowed to rent his own place and live there chained to a Roman guard. So many of the Roman guard and other people employed by Caesar came to know the Lord during this time. While Paul was in prison the church of Phillipi sent him a very huge offering that was used to pay for care for Paul while he was imprisoned. He wrote the letter to the Phillipians partly because he was so thankful to them for their help.  

It is written not as from an apostle to the church as are most of Paul epistles, but it is written as a letter from friend to friend. There is a very warm, friendly feeling through the whole epistle; it is interesting that the tone of the epistle is one of extreme joy and rejoicing.(Smith)

So apparently Timothy was in Rome with Paul and is serving the Lord right alongside Paul in chains. He explains that they are bondservants   of Jesus Christ. A Bondservants is an indentured slave, once who chooses to be bound to their master for life. Unlike a slave, they choose to be a slave for life for the person they choose. Paul and Timothy choose to be sales or servants,of Jesus Christ. 

Paul only writes two letters where he doesn’t emphasize that he is an apostle for Jesus, this book and 1 Thessalonians, where he writes the letter as their friend instead of their overseeing pastor. 

He address the letter to the saints in Christ Jesus, who are in Phillipi with the deacons and bishops, who are just the workers who serve in the church, 

Chuck Smith on explaining the deacons and the bishops:

I go to the Greek word themselves to translate them so that we get the... again bishops, we think of some guy who was over a whole bunch of churches. But they were the overseers within the local church, and the deacons were the workers. Those workers in the church serving.

—

So, Paul opens this epistle, and along with the little letter to Philemon and 1 Thessalonians, it's the only epistle where he does not begin by the affirmation of his apostleship. Usually, it is, "Paul an apostle by the will of God." But he is writing now as a friend to a friend.(Smith).

—

Pray for Lorinda and Wanda Cheek, for their health, foe Debbie and Mike as well. Pray for Vicki Michael”s mission trip to Camas to help her family can see Jesus!

Randy is doing well after surgery, keep praying he heals up well. 

Pray for Ben Reinhardt, I haven’t heard how his surgery went.

The Real Reason Writers Procrastinate

Life Can Be Scary

Sometimes I do struggle to share - like today.

However, I remember something that happened back in 2009 or 2010. I had something happen in my life and felt I was to share it, but I struggled. My friend Debbie encouraged me to write it on my blog. I did. 

The next night I was at a table at Bible study and a lady was talking about a beautiful blog post she had read that day. My friend Debbie pointed at me and let her know I had written that. 

Another woman came to me and said she had read my blog and it was what she needed to hear that day.

It stunned me. 

In writers' conferences they say write for the "one person." In meetings with publishers, they say you don't have enough people that you write to.

One day I was going to enter a contest and decided against it because the past writers had tougher types of writing than I did. 

What went through my mind at that moment was do I write to win? Or do I write to reach that one person?

So, I entered it figuring out that at least one person would read it and hopefully enjoy it. 

In saying all of this, it is hard to write what I am admitting today.

However, maybe, there is someone who felt like I did this morning and needs some encouragement too. Maybe, there is one person who needs encouragement like I did.

I woke up scared of things that could happen. It is sort of legit, certain things could go either way right now. And I am really hoping and praying they go the positive way of course. As usual the thing I fight against is my imagination when I worry. It skyrockets. I just wrote a blog on fighting worry and woke up with intense worries this morning. 

Everything was wrong and everything was going to be so much worse.

I started to send out texts to my friends to pray for me, but then my phone opened to the daily blessing from Susan Larson. Here is a copy of the screen shot I sent to my friends.

I then got out of bed and decided to live this day to the best of my ability leaning on God the entire way.

If you woke up today feeling discouraged, scared, or with anxious thoughts, focus on what is REAL today. If you can do something about it - do it. If not - pray, pray, pray - cause God can. And then go live this day you are given to live. 

HIS mercies are new EVERY MORNING! Hold on to His mercies. 

Lamentations 3:22-23

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Jesus the True Shepherd

 

John 10:1-6

1 ¶ “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

2 “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

3 “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

4 “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

5 “Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

——

This seems like a new message, but it is a continuation of the previous message where Jesus told the Jews, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.” 

He just goes at it another way to see if they can help them to understand. Jesus tries to help the Jews understand because He loves them, not because He wants to prove them wrong. 

I always need to remember that, and more than before know that I do, it is because of His love for His children, all of His children. I never want to discuss with anyone about Jesus in hatred or anger. 

He wants us all to remember who we speak for and how much love He has for all of His children, even those who are gay, sexually confused in another way, in a cult or any other sort of group that leads others astray, those who believe abortion is a good thing, to those who think they are good people and deserve to go to heaven. 

I once was in this group and Jesus loved me enough to send people to love me, pray for me, speak Truth to me and they all did it with love!  It was the love that drew me in as I was getting none of it from the world. 

So Jesus tells them there is a way to get into the sheepfold and those that use the door are the Shepherd’s sheep and those that climb over the wall are not, yet. When we enter by the door and become His sheep, we become shepherds of the sheep, loving and gathering the sheep together. 

When He opens the door, He calls out to His sheep, by name, and He leads them out to graze, or feed, like reading the Bible or going to church. When He leads them out, they follow Him because they know His voice. 

Sheep in a flock, led by a shepherd are so connected to that shepherd, much the way Angel loves me and is in-tuned to my every move so that when I move she moves. So when there are many flocks in one place, a shepherd can keep his flock close to each other by His voice, the other sheep don’t understand Him, but His sheep do. 

Jesus used this illustration for the Jews to understand, but they didn’t get it. Much like me, I didn’t get it for about 2 years of people loving on me, but then I did and it was all and still is amazing, no matter how much spiritual warfare we experience.

Had an amazing day Saturday, connecting with Linda Reinhardt and some other gals for her birthday we could finally celebrate that was December. 2, but someone was always sick so we finally were all well and we celebrated. Then I went to see Kimberly Sanders, Danielle Sanders, Patrick as they gathered with friends to have a memorial for Alex, Kimberly’s son, who recently passed away. It was awesome to see all of them and see Christina, who used to be married to Tony Jacobs, Cami, Kim Sandburg and others. Nice day seeing friends and remembering sweet Alex, who I used to babysit and spend a lot of time when he was a young boy to man.

Jesus The Light Of The World

John 8:1-12

Jesus the Light of the World

1 ¶ But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 ¶ Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.

3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,

4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.

5 “Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”

6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

7 ¶ So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”

8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

11 ¶ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you anymore.”

12 ¶ Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

——

There is much debate as to whether this passage from John 7:3-8:11 is part of John’s original text and as the argument continues, I choose to look at it as always, “What is it telling us about Jesus, about His revealing the heart of God”?

It is a very revealing story about not only the heart of Jesus, but the Pharisees and Jewish rulers as well. 

Jesus goes to the Mt. Of Olives to sleep and then  next goes to the temple to teach and he drew a crowd of people hungry for the Truth. While they are looking to learn from Jesus, the Jewish rulers are looking for how to trip Him up, so in the temple, a holy place, where Jesus is preaching about holy Truths, the Pharisees and rulers bring a naked, shamed and horrified woman into where He is teaching and throw her before Him and share she was caught in the very act of adultery. 

No matter that it takes two to tango and the man who was also caught is conveniently missing from the shameful scene, here sits this woman, more terrified, as the penalty for this is stoning to death. Shamed, naked, humiliated and broken, this woman sat there in front of all those people waiting to feel the stones hit. They remind Jesus what the law said, but Jesus bent down and began drawing in the dirt,

David Guzik comments on Jesus’ stooping down:

Stooped down is a low posture, identifying with the humiliation of the woman. Jesus did what He could to identify with, care for, and ease the embarrassment of this woman. One may say this story illustrates the great problem: how can God show love and grace to the sinner without being unjust, without breaking His own law? He does it by first identifying with the sinner in their low condition. 

The rulers repeated the question about what should be done with the lady and finally Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”. 

He then continued writing on the ground. As the people thought of their sin, one by one they dropped the stones and left until it was only Jesus and the woman left in the temple area. 

Jesus looks up from where He is writing and sees that everyone has left, aware of their own sins and said to the woman, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” 

She told them no one was left and Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you anymore.” Interesting to note that Jesus didn’t say, “I do not condemn you.", but said, “I don’t condemn you anymore”.  Anymore denotes that He did judge her, but He didn’t pick up stones to kill her, but forgave her.

The last verse here had to be said another time because it was said to “them” and there was just the two of them but it is one of my favorite verses, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” 

What a great promise for me to cling to in these dark and dreary days when it feels like darkness is winning, but Truth is, He wins. His children win and days that are dark and dreary are passing and are sometimes just a trap to trip us up and lead us to feel as if we have no hope, but looking to the True Light of the world will bring freedom.

It is why He tells us to seek Him daily, reading in the Word, prayer, etc. because He knows and tells us many times that in this world there will be troubles, but to have faith, He has overcome them all for us. 

It is a war my brother and sister, a war for souls and the more we can put the world aside and just focus on Him, the more the Light will chase away the darkness. 

The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matt. 13:31, 32; Mark 4:30-32 )

Luke 13:18-21

18 ¶ Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 “It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

The Parable of the Leaven (Matt. 13:33 ) 20 ¶ And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? 21 “It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” ——— In these two parables Jesus attempts to help the disciples understand what it means for something to start small as a seed, like a mustard seed, which is so small you cannot really see one seed, it needs to have multitudes to see them, and have it grow so huge, like the mustard tree. In this He is answering the question asked of him, “What is the kingdom of God like and what can I compare it to in order to understand it better.” This illustration is intended for us to see that when we first learn about the Lord, like when we are young, we only can see small portions of the Lord.

We cannot grasp all the fullness of who He is until over time and with much learning, fellowship and growing, praying and spending daily time with Him in His Word, slowly grows us in understanding of the Lord and His kingdom.

It really is a subject that will never be completely grasped, this side of heaven, but one day you look up and realize 28 years have gone by and you really have grown in the past 28 years and you really do know more than you did before and just see the blessing in that! The next illustration was Jesus’s way of saying, “I see blank looks on faces, let me explain it another way to help you understand it better.

So think of a lady who is baking bread and while preparing the dough the lady put in 3 measures of meal or yeast and the whole batch was soon leavened or given air or lift so the bread was lighter and less dense. So as the kingdom of heaven is spread through our lives like yeast and our lives expand with the kingdom of heaven on earth. The more you understand of the kingdom of heaven, which is eternal in focus and not earthly means, the more you become kingdom followers and not following the things of the world. Kingdom of heaven life is not built on a rushed church visit and hurried prayers before you eat at least very well, it will not expand at any exponential rate if the focus is growing your stock portfolio, catching the cutest guy or gal, living in the best home and all that the world says that is what we need. Not that those cannot be had, but where is the focus - eternity or retirement. This is just a message from Jesus to the disciples to the multitudes, to the Christians to us. The kingdom of heaven is desiring to be known and grasped by us and when we let it, it can just expand into every area of our life. Praise God.

CALL HIM

By Lidia Hu

Call Him.

He who made the earth

Call him

He who formed the earth

Call him

He who established the earth

Call on the Lord

For he makes everything new

Call on the Lord

For he repairs everything broken

Call upon the Lord

For he establishes everything in place

Call him

He who makes newness 

Call him

He who remolds brokenness

Call him

He who sets everything in place

He will answer you

And tell you great things

Even unsearchable things

Things you do not know

By the way, his name is Jesus

He answers all who call on him

Go ahead, give him a call

You’ll be in awe of his answer

“This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name:‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Jeremiah 33:2-3

Picture used by permission by owner Lidia Hu. 

LET’S PRAISE THE LORD’S GLORIOUS NAME

Picture and post by Lidia Hu

“Praise be to you, Lord,

    the God of our father Israel,

    from everlasting to everlasting.

Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power

    and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,

    for everything in heaven and earth is yours.

Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;

    you are exalted as head over all.

Wealth and honor come from you;

    you are the ruler of all things.

In your hands are strength and power

    to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks,

    and praise your glorious name.”

I Chronicles 29: 10-13

~ ~ ~

With and in

Every sunset

I see you,

My Lord

With and in

Every sunset

I sense you

My God

With and in

Every sunset

I feel a pull

Towards you

With and in

Every sunset

You send

Amazement

With and in

Every sunset

You reveal

Grandeur 

With and in

Every sunset

You provide

Hope

With and in

Every sunset

You reveal

Your heart

Like a rainbow

Sunsets reflect

Promises for

Our tomorrows

~ ~ ~

Lord,

When my

Eyes fail me

May my lips 

Praise you

When I feel

Your sunset

 

When my lips

Can’t utter

The words

May my

Face reveal

My gratitude

If my face

Can’t express

My emotions

May my tears

Be droplets

Of pure joy

For my heart

Will remember 

The sunsets

You allowed

My eyes

To see

Brenda Connors Devotionals With My Blue Thread Sisters

Devo. 4/23/22

Luke 5:12-26 

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

 (Matt. 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45 )

12 ¶ And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

13 ¶ Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him.

14 And He charged him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.”

15 ¶ However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.

16 So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.

——

I wondered after processing through the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that it would be difficult to find something new in a story I have already heard two “other times, but different writers, different perspectives and it is so interesting. I read a book by these three ladies who I know and love one of them, Linda Reinhardt, so incredibly much, and they told the same story of three sisters from each of their perspectives. Such a beautiful story, it is called Like a Bird Wanders and the other two authors are Sharon Bernard Smith and Rosanne Croft. This is how I read the same story three times and get so much out of each telling.

Jesus has just called the first 4 of His 12 disciples and I put myself into the story as new disciples, following Him with a different mindset. Before they followed because they loved to hear Him teach, but now they are following Him because He told them He would make them fishers of men. So this first encounter is like going to discipleship school on the fly. No ink or scrolls to learn from, just an on the job training. Jesus goes from filling their boats with fish to healing a leper. It’s a kind of quick let Him learn as you go job and boy did they jump right into the deep water.

So as Jesus was in a certain city, the Word does not state which one, a man with leprosy fell down on his face and cried out for Jesus to make him clean. Leprosy was a horrible disease that was highly contagious and not able to be cured. . A person who had this disease was considered unclean and they had to cry out “Unclean, unclean” whenever people were around so they could run from him/her. Kind of like the last 2 years with the pandemic, avoiding people became the norm. It was a death sentence and it made this man desperate for help. He said to Jesus, “Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean”.  This man had such desperation, but such faith. He didn’t ask if Jesus could heal him, he asked if He would be willing to. Jesus said, “I am willing”, and he touched the man and the leprosy left immediately. We all know from the Word so far Jesus could heal someone with a look, when he isn’t even with the person, and now, despite the absolute taboo for anyone touching a leper, Jesus touched this man. Such love, it might have been years since anyone showed him any love and Jesus touched him. 

Jesus told the man to go to the priest and let him see that you are healed and then make an offering. Basically following the plans laid out in the Old Testament. He told him to tell no one, but I am not sure I could have done that because once you are in a putrid state where you are literally falling apart and then you are free from the incurable disease you believed was going to kill you so slowly and painfully. I am not sure that I wouldn’t just shout it from the rooftops as this man did. It isn’t that Jesus didn’t want anyone to know, He just knew that the crowds would grow exponentially after hearing this. When word got out of this healing, it became a mob scene with various infirmities brought to Jesus. When He became overwhelmed, He went to a deserted place to pray and find His strength.

It doesn’t have to be a disease that makes one feel lonely and unloved, with the pandemic there are so many people who are desperate for human contact. He is willing to put His arms around you and me and touch our souls to remind us we do matter to Him. 

Randy’s appointment was very good, there is no more cancer than the prostate. ‘,

Now we meet with the oncologist to determine the best course of action. 

It is funny how sometimes one of you will comment that it is awesome how these message are and I laugh remembering falling asleep and my hands still are on the iPad keyboard and awake to find all kinds of things I have written in my sleep. Because He can even bless me and others with these words despite me!

Brenda Connors Devotionals With My Blue Thread Sisters

 Devo.. 4/21/22

Luke 4:38-44

Peter’s Mother-in-Law Healed

(Matt. 8:14, 15; Mark 1:29-31 )

38 ¶ Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.

39 So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.

Many Healed After Sabbath Sunset

(Matt. 8:16, 17; Mark 1:32-34 )

40 ¶ When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.

41 And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

(Matt. 4:23-25; Mark 1:35-39 )

42 ¶ Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them;

43 but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.”

44 And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

——

No where in any of the other Gospels, Matthew Mark or John did Jesus heal Simon’s (Peter’s) mother-in-law before we knew who Simon was.  

It appears the only reason I can come up with this switch is that Luke was showing where Jesus was fulfilling that verse in Isaiah. He was using illustrations of the places that showed this, like the man filled with the demons.

Jesus seemed to be eager to get to it, after the encounter with the demon being thrown out of a man in the synagogue, He goes outside and right to Simon”s mother- in-law’s house where He found her very Ill with a high fever. 

Her family asked that she be made well so Jesus rebuked the fever and it left her. She got up and made them all something to eat. That was amazing because usually when someone gets well it still lingers and strength comes back slowly, but Jesus healed her of the fever and gave her strength to rise up and serve them.

Then when word got around town that people had been healed from their various ailments a crowd of people gathered at sunset, which was the end of the Sabbath, with people who were in need of healing. He laid His hands on them all and they were all healed. Demons also came out of many people and as they began to proclaim who He was, He shushed them and did not allow them to speak.

Wonderful start to His ministry. It is important to not take away from this that Jesus finds demons in every sick person or that healing people physically is all He does. He meets people right where they are in His ministry. 

When the sun came up Jesus went to a deserted place to pray and be alone with the Lord. The crowds found Him and tried to stop Him from leaving, but He told them He had to preach the kingdom of God to everyone, which, He is pointing out, His main purpose in coming

Jesus knows there are people hurting, sad, lonely, in many ways and He knows that the most important thing is for people to know the healing power of Jesus in their heart. 

I have had many times when I have done things for others, big things like buy a car for them, give them money for a dance, give them jobs, but when it came time to pay back the loan, they went away, laughed in my face or ignored the fact they owed me. 

Giving people things doesn’t make them love anyone, especially if you stop giving to them. It is a hard lesson to learn for this not so proud people pleaser. People do not need things, but they do need to know Jesus. 

This is why it was Jesus’ ministry because a lot of the multitudes that followed Jesus for 3 years were in the crowd crying “Crucify Him, crucify Him, give us Barabbas, crucify Jesus”. Why.? Because they wanted Him to save them from Roman rule and when he was arrested they gave up hope in what they wanted from Him and missed what He came for really. 

I pray no one I know will miss out because of something they felt Jesus slighted them on. He is really all we need, it just takes changing our perspective to see it. Turn your eyes…

Brenda Connors Devotionals With My Blue Thread Sisters

Mark 11:25-26 (Matt. 6:14, 15 )

Forgiveness and Prayer

25 ¶ “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

26 “But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

——I can tell you that distracted people don’t do well. A distracted driver can miss a car in front of them stopping and slam into them, go into the ditch, or die in a fiery crash. Once I was in Mexico and my friend from Mexico about halfway into the mission trip told me she was praying for me because I seemed “off”. I realized it was true I was interested in this guy and it had me distracted. Once she told me that I let go of the “guy troubles” and poured myself into the mission.

This is why Jesus takes a moment to share the two verses about forgiveness and prayer. Not processing forgiveness to a person is an anchor on our feet pulling us under. It is in no way resolving the situation, but taking ourselves out of the fight. I have heard it said so many times, forgiveness is what we do for ourselves, in order to clear our heart and mind from being distracted. David Guzik said it so nicely:

The forgiven heart will forgive others. If we have hard, unforgiving hearts, it calls into question if we have ever received or appreciated the forgiveness God offers us.

I know we hang onto things because we think it is our right. We have been wronged and we need to let the world know. With a rallying cry we gain others to walk this anger road with us. It feels redeeming to have others agree with you, but it is just making the stink more rank.

 Allowing ourselves to forgive this person instead of putting a hit squad together is really the only way to freedom. I have talked about anger letters and forgiveness letters, where you pour out your anger onto paper or on the computer. After it is all out on the table, you write a forgiveness letter. One of the most powerful tools there is for helping ourselves process through to forgiveness.

It really is true that this unforgiveness can seep into every part of our lives and is like drinking a lard smoothie. It is like a hot potato, get rid of it before it burns you.

The Season

I can still hear the song Turn! Turn! Turn! that The Byrds sang years ago. It was adapted from a Bible verse in Ecclesiasties.

"To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose under Heaven..." (WEB) (2)

There is a time for people to be born, to live, and to die. There is a season for joy, weeping, celebrating and grieving. There is a season for wars, and for peace.

There is a very special time when the Word (Jesus) became man and walked among us.

"In Him was life, and that life was the light of men." NIV John 1:4 (1)

"The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." NIV John 1:5 (1)

The world can have a season of darkness, but Jesus is light.

Celebrating the birth of Jesus comes once a year. The lights are strung all around us and look beautiful. Through the darkness are displays of color and light, as there is a yearly celebration of Jesus birth. A time when He came to live among His people. A time when people were face to face with His light. His love.

He showed compassion on those who were weary, outcasts, and hurting. He healed those who had sicknesses. He showed the people a new path to walk.

He still does that to this day. His love and light are still there for us to experience every day.

Even on our very saddest days. Those days when we experience loss that is so great we don't know how to get up off the ground.

He is the lifter of our heads.

He is our strength.

When we ache to the core of our being, He is our comforter.

He came many years ago and lived with His people for a short period of time. That is what we celebrate, because He left the message behind that we can live with Him forever, if we believe in Him.

Every year there is the Christmas season.

Every  day His light shines in the darkness.

WORK CITE

1. THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Bible Gateway. WEB. (2017)
2. The Byrds, "Turn! Turn! Turn!,"The Byrds, Peter Seeger, Columbia Studios,1965,Lyrics Freak, www.lyricsfreak.com.

BRENDA CONNORS - DEVOTIONALS WITH MY BLUE THREAD SISTERS

Mark 11:12-14 The Fig Tree Withered 

(Matt. 21:18, 19 )

^{11 12} ¶ Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. ¹³ And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.

—— It isn’t that Jesus just got the fig season wrong. It wasn’t that the fig tree didn’t have figs because it wasn’t supposed to. The problem is that it had leaves but didn’t have figs. The leaves said, “There are figs here,” but the figs weren’t there.

This of course is not a message about figs but is a message about how Jesus views religious people, who appear to have the leaves of the relationship with God but have no fruit. Putting on a pretense of believing, but not believing is what Jesus is addressing here.

This is the only destructive miracle Jesus did and it is a picture of the Jewish rulers and their followers, which He will address coming up next. There were many trees with only leaves, and these were not cursed. There were many trees with neither leaves nor fruit, and these were not cursed. This tree was cursed because it professed to have fruit but did not.

These people who were religious were exactly as this tree, professing with their religious outer trappings, like the leaves, that they had a pretense of a relationship with God, but they had no fruit.

God really does want a life given over to Him, He wants us not to simply say the words of belief and then go on and live our lives the same, but not only wants lip service, but He desires that we give over our lives to Him. We let go of what we think our life should be about and trust Him to use us for His purposes.

It is easy to say, but so hard to do. It is like putting your very last coin in the offering plate and trusting God to provide.

So important for our walk to match our talk. To just do religion by rote and have no relationship with the Creator is so damaging to ourselves and others. People see leaves and follow to get the fruit but end up believing they have fruit when their lives are a tree empty of fruit. It really is a tragic thing to realize that not only have you been led astray but have been attracting others to follow you.

If any of a relationship with Jesus leads people to us instead of Him, we are a fig tree with leaves but no fruit. I never want to live like that.

Lord I pray for all of us to have a real and personal relationship with our Savior where He produces fruit a plenty with our lives.

Used with permission from one or the original BlueThreads - Brenda Connors of DEVOTIONAL SHARING WITH MY BLUE THREAD SISTERS

THE LIGHT SHINES

Many mornings incredible colors fill the sky as the sun rises to start the day. My husband is one of those who loves to take pictures of the sunrise. I don’t see the sunrise that often, but when I do it is like watching a painter mix and stroke the colors on to the canvas in a fascinating eye-catching way and then, ta-dah - it is a new day.

It is so great when the sun is shining and there are blue skies, birds singing, and it doesn’t really matter if it is cold out. A day with sunshine to light up the sky can help a day be better no matter what the temperature.

I do get to see the moon rise over the horizon quite often. I have walked in the evening looking up at the sky and tried to take many pictures of the moon and the twinkling stars. The pictures typically do not compare to what I am viewing at the time.

There is a place in our neighborhood that I have spent time just gazing up at the lights in the sky while mulling over things happening in my life or others’ lives.

 Sometimes I cry, sometimes I stand and talk to God, and sometimes I just plain admire the amazing handiwork that I see before me up in the sky.

Sometimes the clouds are so thick you can’t see all the stars or the moon. Sometimes a cloud will part a bit and I can get a peek at the lights in the sky.

Even when it is stormy, I know there are lights behind those dark clouds.

When I go inside, throughout my home little night lights are placed to guide our way when we turn the main lights off at night. If we get up at night, it isn’t completely dark. There are soft lights to guide us.

God created light for our day, and He created lights to shine in the dark of the night.

The book of Genesis tells us on the fourth day of creation in chapter 1 verse 16. “Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.”

This Sunday we get to set our clocks forward which will make our early evenings brighter.

In the fall when we switch our clocks backward each year it is instantly dark and dreary early in the day. The rainy weather starts, and people head indoors. However, a wonderful thing happens in October, (now that people decorate for Christmas earlier) the neighborhoods light up one by one around our city with bright beautiful light displays that have become more and more extravagant each year.

There are lists in the paper to let you know where the most exquisite light displays are around the cities. There are quite a few on that list and there are quite a few that don’t make the paper.

Just down the street from us the neighborhood puts on a wonderful Christmas display.  I love looking at the beautiful light displays so I turn on to that street quite a bit to see it up close.

Then closer to the Christmas holiday I come home to cheery decorations that await in my house along with the Christmas tree that has its own light display.

All of this helps make it truly the most wonderful time of the year.

And then the new year begins, and we celebrate newness. It brings a sense of hope for the days that lie ahead.

Then…the lights come down. The trees are put away. The celebration time is over.

Except for a few homes there is no longer those beautiful lights causing the streets to be illuminated with color.

There is a deeper darkness to the evening, and the nights seem longer.  

Darkness is all around. It makes it so hard to see. Sometimes it can be easier to close your eyes, hide your head, or hide your heart, so as not to think about what causes things to be dark or what happens in the dark.

The news and social media plagues us with information of the virus. There has been a huge loss of lives and suffering of loved ones. It can be terrifying to have someone cough near you. People wait at home for information of their loved ones on whether they are okay or not while they suffer in the hospital.

There has been so much misunderstanding between people. Anger. Retaliation.

Drugs, sex addiction, and sex trafficking is rampant in America. It is rampant in our very area!

Families are being torn apart in so many ways whether it be by isolation from the virus, the vaccine opinions, the masks fights, different addictions, the list is long.

The homeless line the sides of the roads and freeway. Their garbage and belongings fill the grassy areas.

There is an outrageous number of children in the foster care system and there is not enough homes for them to be stay safe while their parents deal with their issues.  And there is so many burnt out foster parents, CASA, and caseworkers because of a system that doesn’t appear to be handling the overload very well. It leaves a person shaking their head with a broken heart.

Young adults are dealing with mental issues during this pandemic time.

Murders, robberies, and kidnappings are the norm in the paper. 

It seems the lights are not only put away for the holidays, but the light is gone from life itself. 

There is darkness.

And in the dark is where the mourning cries of the heart are not always heard, and hope can be lost. In the dark is where a person can feel so alone. In the dark is where it is hard to see the helping hand that is reaching out to comfort. In the dark is where it is hard to find those who need comforting the most.

In the dark is where we sometimes hold on to things that only make it darker because we cannot clearly see.

The other day I read in Genesis 1 that in the beginning of creation darkness was all around. God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light, and God separated the light from the darkness. He said it was good.

It really caught my attention that light was the first thing God spoke into creation. And He SEPERATED the light from the darkness.

It was dark and then there was light. This was the first day.

And it was good.

He didn’t leave it at that. As we read earlier on the fourth day, He created a lesser light to RULE the night.

In each day darkness does come in one form or another, but so does LIGHT. Each day there is light. God spoke light first into the day.

During the Christmas celebration Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. In John 1:1-5 – it says that Jesus is the light…

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of me. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

Even after the Christmas lights have come down. Even when the nights are dark. Even when darkness tries to cover the light.

LIGHT is still there.

Even when the sun goes down each day and darkness fills the land, God put stars and a moon in the sky to keep it from becoming completely dark.

The book of John tells us that Jesus light shines in the darkness…

We need the light that shines in the darkness.

There is a cute little song from Sunday School, This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

There is a lot of pain in life right now. A lot of grieving. Believe me I know.

There is a light that shines eternally and that is the light of Jesus.

Believe me I am not just trying to say something simple. I have also experienced dark nights. A heart so broken I didn’t even know how I could smile again. I have struggled with physical things this last year like never before and the process of healing has been long. I have lost ones I love, and miss that I will not hear their voices or spend another moment on earth with them.

My family and I gave a big chunk of our lives to bring good to a situation that seems like it didn’t matter what we did.

It looks so dark sometimes, and the dark can cause a heart to feel hopeless.

Yes, it can.

I am here to say it is never, never, never completely dark.

NEVER.

Jesus is the light of the world.

Yep, there is a lot of dark, but God’s light shines brighter.

God SPOKE and there became light. A light that has never been put out since the day of creation.

And every single day that sun rises. The stars twinkle. The moon shines. And it is a complete day.

There is hope.

See the night comes, but it cannot be completely dark, even if the skies are cloudy.

And we have PEOPLE.

God’s people.

Jesus says to be a city on a hill.

There is always, always a person. Maybe they won’t solve everything, but every little good thing a person does can light up a day so bright.

The nights may be dark. The days may seem as dark as the night, but there is a light that can come to shine in your life.

Jesus’ light. It shows through creation, it shows through people.

His light shines no matter what.

 

 

 

 

And there He IS...

I sat down with every intention to do my morning reading. I had my coffee, my notebook, my blanket, and…my phone.

I picked up my phone for a brief text which ended up being another text, and another text…

A few times my emails got a look through. I didn’t open my devotional emails. The titles were glanced at for a few seconds and then back to perusing through other things on my phone.

Videos of my cat’s were sent to my husband. Morning gifs were sent and oh, another picture and video of my cat’s.

My Bible got pulled over closer to me. Then another glance at my devotional’s. Oh, this one looks simple it is about the writer’s job. Okay…

And there He was.

Every word in that devotional spoke to the place in my heart that I really didn’t want to deal with at the moment. It was easier to play around until I felt I could get up and get busy with my day. It was as though, I was the writer of that devotional, not someone else, who I had never met before.

He was waiting.

He was right there.

He let me know too.

The verse, Genesis 16:13 (NIV)

“She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her. ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.”

Many, many, many years ago Hagar was in a scary, lonely place in the wilderness. A single mom, no income, abused, used, put aside, her feelings didn’t matter to those around her, and she had an unsure future.

God met Hagaar there. He saw her. AND she KNEW that HE could see her. And she left from that place in the wilderness.

That is what God did today for me. He literally dumped right in my lap a comforting direction and let me know He sees.

He sees me.

He doesn’t just see me standing, sitting, laying, crying, and laughing. All those things that a person sees on the outside.

No…God sees my pain that is in my heart, He sees the joy inside of me, He knows before I do what I think about something, He knows my anxious thoughts, He knows my careless whispers and shouts, He knows every single thing about my past, and He knows my future. Psalm 139.

He sees me right here – right now and He not only sees, but He knows.

Are you scared? Are you lonely? Are you grieving? Are you angry? Are you frustrated, trapped, or need direction? Are you happy, excited, and hopeful?

HE SEES YOU.

Even though things are crazy in Haiti, India, and Afghanistan He still SEES you, my friend. He SEES us standing here needing Him.

Even as reports of Covid, masks, cancer, and death are everywhere you read and look, He SEES you, my friend. He SEES us needing HIM.

Are you waiting for the call? Are you standing beside the grave? Are you sick in the bed? Are you broken hearted?

Does tomorrow look dark?

HE SEES.

Let’s start right there.

That no matter what is going on GOD SEES each of us exactly where we are at this moment and the moment, He gives us after that.

Thank you, LORD, that YOU SEE each of us. Right here. Right now.

May we move from this moment into the next knowing His eyes are upon us and He knows.

 

Thank You to All Who Have Served In America's Military

 

Let Love Shine

When I picked up my phone yesterday I had the thought, I wonder what is happening on Facebook today.
My next thought was, I hope nothing bad happened.
The first post - something had happened in Vegas.
I looked at the news.
Are there any words to express something that my mind cannot grasp happened?
Then it got personal when I discovered a couple of my family members knew people who had lost their lives at this concert and others who were injured.
I have no words.
I cannot grasp who or why would do such a horrible thing. And whenever I think of what the people at the concert went through, while running away from the bullets, there is no words, only tears.
I am not normally a name caller, but no matter what his mental condition was at the time, no matter what his reasons, only a little coward would do what he did. The people had no way to defend themselves. No way to counter attack. Purely a evil cowardly act of violence.
And the point?
There is none.
Hatred cloaked in a coward’s bullets flew through the air taking lives that were full of love, dreams, hopes for tomorrow.
People stood next to loved ones and shared their last moments dodging a coward’s bullet’s.
My mind cannot grasp the totality of what happened in that place. It doesn’t want to grasp it completely.
There are people who will HAVE to grasp what happened at such a painful personal level. Their loved one’s are not coming home.
My niece’s friends are not coming home.
My niece’s friends are injured.
There are husbands, wives, moms, dads, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, cousins, friends…not coming home.
Because…
I went for a walk. How do you pray when there is so much tragedy? When there is so much devastation in this world brought on by storms, and then there is devastation brought on by senseless act of destruction.
And then to top it off - there is the fake news. There is the battle between the left and the right. Even in a horrible crisis such as this there is mud-slinging.
How does a person stop the cowardly bullets of hate so it will not spread hate further?
It is one of those times I believe God is there to catch the tears and I don’t have to have the right words. It is to big.
It is one of those times beyond anyone’s understanding of what evil can do to people’s lives, where it is necessary to hold onto the hand of LOVE.
Hold on tight and not be a part in spreading the coward’s message of evil cowardly hate that lead to violence.
Instead hold onto Jesus hand and know He hears all of the hearts crying.
He hears it all.
He walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. He holds us and comfort us.
He can cover us with love when evil comes to destroy us.
The act of pure evil tries to snuff out the light.
I pray we will not let the light of LOVE be snuffed out. Instead, let the darkness of hate be snuffed out.
When I was young and my car broke down, I would walk from my apartment that was located close to downtown, up to my parent’s or friend’s house which was a couple miles away. Alone. At night.
It would be spooky when I walked by the grave yard, but only because of my very vivid imagination. However, I didn’t have any fear of someone grabbing me and putting me in their car.
Until…
Reports started coming from the Seattle area of girls coming up missing. And then the news started that these same girls were found dead.
I no longer felt safe walking by myself at night.
A baseball park located down the road from my childhood home was a great hangout place for us as kids. We played ball, slid down the dirt hills in the woods that surrounded the ball field, rode dirt bikes and hiked.
Two young brothers were found dead.
Those woods were no longer a safe place to go.
We would go to movie theaters by ourselves and let young children go to the bathrooms without worrying. Then the same killer of the boys in the woods, snatched one of his victims from the bathroom of a movie theater.
Theaters lost their “safety” appeal after that.
I used to jog all over the place, and then there was news of a serial Raper grabbing girls who were running or riding bikes. I started carrying mace, and running earlier in the day where people were around. 
Now that I am older, people are shot at movie theaters.
Theaters are no longer a safe place to be.
And shopping malls, festivals, and concerts.
Hate shows it’s face.
Hate takes away FREEDOM.
Seeds of hate causes violence to grow and grow and grow.
Seeds of love bring healing, comfort, happiness, and joy.
We cannot demand someone to love. We can only bring love to other people and drop seeds.
We can bring love that gives comfort. Love that brings healing.
I pray God will heal our land!
I pray God will heal me and you!
I pray God will pour out His comfort upon everyone who is experiencing the consequences of hate.
I pray I will not be the hater.
I pray I will be the forgiver.
I pray I will be the one who loves.
I pray those bullets of cowardly hate will not spread any further.
I pray you will know you are loved and God is there to comfort you right now, in this place.

Pierced Like A Knife

The question sunk into my heart like a piercing sharp knife. Shock and then humiliation swept over me. The humiliation grew, as one by one those around me, heard what had been asked me. 

Words of encouragement and comfort were given, but the humiliation and hurt went deep. The words had hit their mark. 

Just that morning I had been excited by progress I had made in an area I had been working on in my life.

The words spoken said loud and clear the work WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

The hurtful words, and then the humiliation that came from others knowing about the spoken words, was enough to make me either trip that person as they went out the door…Or not.

Or to fight the tears of anger and embarrassment, and just get out of that place before any further damage was done.

I chose the latter.

It was hard. I was hurt. I was embarrassed and the knife had hit a very tender, sore spot in me.

Yes, later I cried. I complained. And it affected me for awhile.

Another question began to tap me on the shoulder. “What are you going to do the next time you see this person?” The odds were high that I would be seeing this person within the week, if not shortly thereafter.

This became an internal struggle. I tossed around the thought that I could be polite, but aloof, or very guarded. The easiest thing would be to ignore this person. Act like I didn’t see them. There wouldn’t be any harm done in doing that. After all, I didn’t have a relationship with this person other than the few minutes each week I said hello and had a short conversation. So what would be the difference?

It ended up I didn’t see this person until just a few days ago. That gave me a few weeks to toss things around in my head and get the right perspective.

It seems like whenever I have a situation that I’m struggling with, I seem to hear story after story of other’s struggles and how they handled them…the right way.

Hmm.

One of my favorite singers competed on one of the popular reality singing shows. One of the judges said some unkind things about her during one of his interviews. Millions watch this show.

I am one of the millions, although I don’t recall this particular incident, probably since there were lots of incidences this judge trashed people without considering their feelings.

However, the singer I am talking about saw the tape and heard what he said. She knew he said this on national television. She knew millions heard his comments.

How humiliating would that be?

I don’t know how much she struggled, but I do know she ended up showing she was an obedient Christ follower. And that she had an incredible faith.

She actually told the judge she forgave him for what he said because she was a Christian.

I thought that was incredible.

If only I could move my thoughts to that incredible place.

Hebrews 12 Living Bible (TLB)

12 Since we have such a huge crowd of men of faith watching us from the grandstands, let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up; and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us.

² Keep your eyes on Jesus, our leader and instructor. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterwards; and now he sits in the place of honor by the throne of God.

³ If you want to keep from becoming fainthearted and weary, think about his patience as sinful men did such terrible things to him. ⁴ After all, you have never yet struggled against sin and temptation until you sweat great drops of blood.

Jesus calls us to follow Him. Despite being humiliated, tortured, and hung to die, he asks the Father in heaven to forgive them.

Luke 23 Living Bible (TLB)

³⁴ “Father, forgive these people,” Jesus said, “for they don’t know what they are doing.”

So…as my own story goes, I saw the person in a crowd a few nights ago. I shot up another prayer about the situation and then made myself busy by talking to someone else.

When I finished, I turned around, and the person was standing there purposely waiting for me and wanting to talk to me.

Strangely, everything changed inside of me about the situation. I gave the person a hug, and chatted and chatted. I walked out of the building chatting along.

I felt good afterward. Things were right again in that part of my world.

Afterward I recalled a story told by Corrie TenBoom…she had been a prisoner in a concentration camp, along with her sister. One of the prison guards beat her sister. Corrie hated that prison guard. Before her sister died, she talked to Corrie about needing to forgive as Jesus forgave. Corrie ended up being the lone survivor of the concentration camp in her family.

She went on to be a public speaker sharing her story and how God worked in her life. One night after she spoke at an event, she spotted the person who had been the prison guard coming from across the room toward her. She battled internally until the moment the guard reached out a hand for a handshake. When she took his hand, God enabled her to forgive him.

My situation wasn’t quite so extreme. Yeah, I hurt. It was a knife to the heart. But with the stories of the believers that go before me, and with the story of my Savior Jesus, and the help from His Holy Spirit, I was able to not only forgive, but show forgiveness.

During this season where we prepare to celebrate Easter, the day Jesus died on the cross for our sins and then came back to life again three days later. I hope to focus on the mark ahead and be able to lay down all the things that would hold me back, such as unforgiveness.

I do seriously want to add, that if you are being abused by someone get out of the situation. Immediately. You can forgive the person, but forgiveness doesn’t always mean there will be a relationship with the person you forgive. It does mean, you have forgiven that person, and they are no longer indebted to you.